The German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring should provide a true indication of the state of play as the Formula One season reaches its exact midpoint, provided that the weather does not intervene in the form of lower than normal temperatures or rain.

The signs are that it will be cool, with the ambient temperature failing to exceed 18 degrees Celsius (making it very similar to Silverstone’s), and showers likely at some time each day. In other words, conditions likely to favour the Red Bulls on Sebastian Vettel’s home ground.

The German is in ebullient form after his second victory of the season in Britain, and has more new parts on his Red Bull RB5 to exploit as he goes for triumph in front of countrymen who already see him as the heir apparent to Michael Schumacher.

“I'd say it's like a soccer match when you play on your home ground,” Vettel says. “You always give 100 percent, but in a home race you're even more motivated, because at home you feel comfortable.

"Not far from the Nurburgring, in Kerpen, I got a lot of kart experience which is why I have many friends in this region. During the 90 minutes of the race I do not think about which country I'm in, because I am concentrated on racing. But before and after, this is special because being at home is the best place to stay."

Brawn, however, have not been idle since their home turf defeat.

"We’re looking forward to returning to the race track and the Nurburgring should be a good circuit for our car and play to its strengths,” team principal Ross Brawn says. “We have several new aerodynamic parts from Silverstone which were not used in qualifying and the race due to the issues that we faced there, along with additional improvements scheduled for this race, which should position us well going into the weekend.

“Whilst coming away with third and sixth placed finishes from Silverstone was still a good outcome from our home Grand Prix, we would be the first to admit that the result did not meet our expectations. However, we have always said that we would have a fight on our hands to maintain our excellent run of results at the start of the season and everyone at the factory and at Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines in Brixworth is looking forward to that challenge.

“As a team, we have a good history of going away from a race, thinking about the outcome, identifying where we need to make improvements and then coming back stronger. As the home Grand Prix for Mercedes-Benz, we will be hoping to come away from the weekend with a successful result."

Jenson Button would like nothing more than to resume his championship challenge by returning the favour and denying Vettel the chance of winning at home.

"The Nurburgring is a tricky circuit but there are two key characteristics which should be good for our car,” he says. “It is a relatively slow circuit with a lot of medium-speed corners which are one of the strengths of the BGP001. The Nurburgring is also one of the heaviest braking circuits on the calendar so you need a car which will be good through the four heavy braking zones.

“With the extra week's break, everyone at the factory and at Mercedes has been working extremely hard in preparation for the German Grand Prix to get the best package for the race and we're looking forward to showing what the car can do at the Nurburgring after a disappointing weekend by our standards at the British Grand Prix.

“My last stint at Silverstone showed that the pace of the car is really competitive so we're confident that we can turn it around at this race. I'm sure we will see a really intense fight with our closest competitors and hopefully a great race for the fans."

The Worx Crescent Suzuki British Superbike team, today confirmed Tommy Hill as its replacement rider for the forthcoming Mallory Park round, after the 24 year-old completed a successful test on-board Sylvain Guintoli's 2009 GSX-R1000.

Parting company with his Honda World Superbike team earlier this year, Hill will replace outgoing temporary rider Michael Rutter for the next round of the series, after Rutter and the team mutually agreed to end their association after his last ride at Knockhil in Scotland.

Team manager, Jack Valentine commented, "I'd firstly like to thank Michael for his efforts since Sylvain's unfortunate injury. Michael did a good job for us, getting two front row starts out of three, while running strong lap times. However, we need to convert good qualification into strong race finishes and we believe Tommy has the ability to do this. After completing 45 laps around Mallory Park on the Worx Crescent Suzuki today, he impressed the whole team and on top of his obvious talent, has a good attitude so should fit in well."

With Sylvain Guintoli making a steady recovery, the team continue to treat each round as it comes, and as such Hill will be riding under a one race contract at Mallory.

Valentine added, "We're still not completely sure when Sylvain will be able to get back on a bike, so we're treating everything on a round by round basis. However, consistency is obviously very important in racing and if Tommy performs how we anticipate, I see no reason why this deal can't be extended to further rounds."

The Goodwood Festival of Speed has long been established as the worlds' most prestigious and diverse celebration of motor sport and car culture. The 2009 event was no different with many of the finest examples of competition cars from all eras of motorsport history both on display and competing. With this in mind Bugatti UK H.R. Owen, Lamborghini UK and Nick Mason called upon the Muc-Off team to keep their machines looking pristine throughout the weekend.

The Muc-Off team attended Goodwood in their custom motorhome which provides a comprehensive mobile care centre. During the weekend Muc-Off's factory team of vehicle care experts cleaned and detailed many of the world's finest automobiles including the new Lamborghini Murcielago LP 670 as seen recently on BBC Top Gear and an Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione. Most importantly, Muc-Off were responsible for cleaning and detailing both Bugatti Veyron's on show. One being an ultra rare "Pur Sang" edition and the other being the new "Grand Sport": convertible version. 'Uber Shine' car shampoo and 3 wax 'Wunder Shine' with PTFE were used along with several advanced new products due for release shortly. These exotic and rare machines were kept in showroom condition and wowed the crowds all weekend.

At the weekend several members of the votwo race team were involved in setting a new Guinness World Record at the Goodwood festival of Speed.

Representing the Porsche Human Performance Centre which is staffed and operated by votwo on behalf of Porsche the guys clocked just over 868 km on a Technogym treadmill averaging 18.1kph for 48 hrs non stop to set a new best by over 70 km!

This beat the previous record of 797 km by over 70 km and will be an incredibly daunting task for anyone looking to better it in the future as the guys were running at under 5 min per mile for much of the time.

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